Medulloblastoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor in adults: prognostic factors and treatment results: a single-center experience from Turkey.

We performed retrospective review of 29 adult patients with cerebellar medulloblastoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) who received craniospinal radiotherapy in Ankara Oncology Hospital between years 2000 and 2005. All patients were operated followed by craniospinal irradiation; 11 of 29 patients also received chemotherapy. All patients had no distant or spinal metastases at the time of diagnosis. Median follow up time was 26 months. Progression-free survival was 86% at 2 years, 55% at 5 years. Mean progression-free survival was 25 months in patients with PNET; 61.4 months in patients with medulloblastoma (P = 0.0016). Mean survival was 61.33% months in patients <25 age, 38 months in patients >25 age. (P = 0.04). Overall mean survival was 59.80 months in patients who received chemotherapy and 41.4 months in patients who did not have chemotherapy (P = 0.15). Cranial relapses were observed in 3 of 29 patients, and 3 of 29 patients had distant metastases. The mean time to cranial recurrence was 19 months; to distant metastases was 18 months. In conclusion, adult patients with PNET have worse survival rates than patients with medulloblastoma, like in childhood patients. Patients younger than 25 years of age also had statistically significant better survival.

The results of hypofractionated radiotherapy in 31 patients with high-grade gliomas.

In this prospective study, we investigated the effects of hypofractionated radiotherapy for patients with high-grade gliomas. About 31 patients with glioblastoma multiforme or anaplastic astrocytoma were studied between October 2003 and December 2004. Hypofractionated radiotherapy (3 Gy/fraction/day) was delivered to a total dose of 45 Gy in 15 fractions in 10 patients (32%) who had total excision before radiotherapy and to a total dose of 54 Gy in 18 fractions in 21 patients (68%) who had subtotal excision or biopsy alone. Sex, age, type of surgery, tumor grade, Karnofsky performance status, time between surgery and initiation of radiotherapy, and total radiotherapy dose were analyzed as potential prognostic factors for survival using the univariate log-rank method. The median follow-up was 15 months (4-16 months). A total of 15 patients (48%) died of their illness; 16 patients (52%) were still alive at the last follow-up. The median survival time was 8 months. Actuarial 1-year overall survival was 40%. Type of surgery, timing of radiotherapy after surgery, and initial Karnofsky performance status were significant prognostic factors for survival. No grade 3-4 acute or late neurotoxicity was observed. The tolerance of patients to hypofractionated RT was not different from that for conventional radiotherapy. This treatment schedule can be used for patients with high-grade gliomas. Future investigations are needed to determine the optimal fractionation for high-grade gliomas.

Brain metastasis of cardiac myxoma: case report and review of the literature.

Cardiac myxoma is the most common benign heart tumor. Cardiac myxoma can be a sporadic lesion (93% of cases) and usually occurs in women over 30 years. Complete surgical removal of the myxoma and its cardiac attachment is usually curative. The frequency of recurrences in cardiac myxomas varies between 3% for sporadic cases and 22% for cases of Carney complex. Recurrence has been related to incomplete excision, multifocality, and embolism of tumor fragments. We report a case with multiple brain metastases presumably due to tumor embolization from previously operated cardiac myxoma.